Ballpark Food- Burgers & Fries...Sweet Potato Style!!

Baseball season is finally here! Yay! The weather is Florida has been awesome. I'm so excited for summer time, baseball, and yummy foods!

Tonight we are watching baseball and enjoying some Ballpark food! I decided to make burgers and fries but with a little sweet potato twist.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatos
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
garlic powder
chili powder
cumin
Himalayan salt
pumpkin seeds
(any seasoning you like)

Fries:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Slice a sweet potato into rounds.
Line a baking sheet with foil.
Coat the sweet potato rounds lightly with olive oil.
Sprinkle with Himalayan salt.
Bake for 10 mins. Flip. Bake for 10 more mins.

Burgers:
Cook one cup of quinoa in two cups of water. Bring quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins or until all of the water is absorbed.

Microwave one sweet potato for 5 min on each side.
Peel sweet potato and mix with quinoa.

Add pumpkin seeds and spices.
Form into burger-like patties and bake in the oven for 10 mins or until done to your liking.

(Note: The burgers did not get "firm" when I made them but they were delicious!!! We had to eat them with a fork. But still soooo yummy! I added some ranch seasoning this time and it was really good. Muggs put cheese on his. MmmMmm!!!)

Serve burgers and fries.

ENJOY!!!

Vanilla Blueberry Protein Pancakes

Happy Pancake Sunday!

I made these last week and they were delicious! I got the recipe from @tastyhealth on Instagram. Follow me @caralyoung. 

Vanilla Blueberry Protein Pancakes

1/3 c oats
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I used Perfect Fit Protein.)
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut flour (I didn't have any so I skipped it.)
shredded coconut
1/4 cup blueberries
Sweetener of choice (I used honey.)

Mix all ingredients except blueberries in a blender. Add bluberries. Fry in a pan for 2 min on each side. I put a little Greek yogurt in between the layers. Top it with shredded coconut, blueberries, and honey. YUM! Sooo good!

Ginger Sesame Miso Dressing - Ultimate Reset Recipe

How do you feel about salad dressing??

I usually don't use them. We like to cut up tomatoes and vegetables, put them on top of our salads, and have the juices from the veggies making their own dressing. That was until I started doing the Ultimate Reset...

My husband and I recently did the Ultimate Reset and they had a few dressing recipes in the meal plan book. We decided to give them a try. The Ginger Sesame Miso Dressing is awesome!! I love it! It was our favorite, so we used it on all of our salads throughout the Reset.

It's simple to make...and I'm sure you could try it with different ingredients if you like to experiment in the kitchen. We kinda mixed up the recipe a little bit...we added more ginger because we really liked the flavor. We used the Magic Bullet for a simple clean up. We were able to pop the lid on top of the blender cup and put it right in the fridge! We also doubled the recipe because the dressing is that good!! ENJOY!

Ginger Sesame Miso Dressing - Ultimate Reset Recipe

2 tbsp miso paste
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. minced ginger root
water (as desired)

Place the first five ingredients in blender and blend on medium high for 30 seconds or until well mixed, adding water as needed for desired consistency. Store in airtight container in refridgerator. Makes 8 servings.

Zucchini-Cashew Soup

I love having a nice bowl of soup in the winter time! Even though we enjoy the warm winters in Florida, the thought of soup in the winter is always comforting. 

We have been doing the Ultimate Reset from Beachbody and trying out all kinds of new recipes. I definitely have a few that will be regulars in my meal plans after the reset is over! This soup recipe is sooo simple and it tastes delicious!!!! 

Zucchini-Cashew Soup

Ingredients: 

(for 1 serving)

1 large or 2 small zucchini, cut into chunks and steamed

1/4 cup raw cashews

Himalayan salt OR Bragg Liquid Aminos (to taste)

Herbal seasoning or fresh herbs, like basil or dill (optional; to taste)

Steamed vegetables (optional; for chunky soup)

Directions:

Soak cashews in enough water to cover for 1 hour; drain. Combine cashews, zucchini, salt or aminos, and seasonings in blender and mix until smooth, adding water as needed for desired consistency.  Pour into saucepan and reheat gently, but do not boil. For chunky soup, add steamed chopped vegetables of your choice.

Notes: 

The recipe makes one serving.  We quadrupled the recipe so that we had leftovers.  It can be served cold, too. I took it to lunch the next day, didn't warm it up, and it was still delicious! The kids in my classroom at work thought it looked like baby food....but trust me, it was awesome! ENJOY!!!

Vegan Stuffed Shells

Vegan Stuffed Shells

This is my kind of meal: healthy, simple, delicious! Bonus: it looks fancy when you are done. I felt like a great Italian cook ;) You can WOW your guests with this one! Even the ones that aren't so sure about your healthier version of stuffed shells.

Ingredients:
2 blocks of frozen chopped spinach
1 package of firm tofu
1 box of shells
1 jar of red sauce
italian seasoning
minced onion
garlic powder

Another bonus- I bought all of the Publix brand of ingredients and it was cheap! Healther meals don't have to be expensive!!!

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add shells and cook as directed on the package.

While the shells are cooking, defrost 2 blocks of frozen chopped spinach. Drain the water off of the spinach. Drain the liquid off of the tofu. Break the tofu into pieces and mix with the spinach. Add italian seasoning, garlic powder, and minced onion. (You can add whatever seasoning you like.)

When the shells are done cooking, drain the water. Let the shells cool for a few minutes.

Coat the bottom of an 8x10 pan with red sauce. Preheat the oven to 375.

Scoop a little bit of the tofu and spinach mixture into each shell. Pack it into the shells and put into the 8x10 pan. Once you have all of the shells filled and in the pan, top them with more red sauce. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until they are done to your liking.

Eat and enjoy!!!

Perfect Protein Pancake

Happy Friday!


We had left over blueberries from the 4th of July and I was really craving some blueberry pancakes!!!


I love pancakes and could eat a HUGE stack of them! Pancakes are not usually very filling...and they aren't the healthiest breakfast option. Luckily, one of these protein pancakes fills me up and tastes AMAZING! It's healthy, too!


Ingredients:


1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Sun Warrior.)
3/4 cup egg whites
blueberries
vanilla extract
(optional: a little honey for "syrup")

Heat a skillet to medium heat.


While you are waiting for the skillet to warm up, mix the protein powder, egg whites, and vanilla.  Add in the blueberries. 

Pour the mixture into the skillet. Cook the pancake for about 2 minutes on each side, or until it is done to your liking.

Garnish with fresh fruit and enjoy!

OMG! Delicious! The perfect pancake alternative!


I've been singing Jack Johnson: "Banana Pancakes" in my head while writing this :)


What is your FAVORITE pancake flavor??

Wine Bottle Craft

Have empty wine bottles laying around? Try this little craft! 

No empty bottles? Get to drinking! ;)

Wine Bottle Craft

Supplies needed:

• wine bottles
• tissue paper
• spray paint
• Mod Podge (glossy)
• small paintbrush
• cardboard (for work surface)

Drink wine. Rinse bottles with warm water and soap. Remove labels. Dry.

Put the bottles on top of cardboard in an open area. Cover bottles completely with spray paint. Let dry.

While the spray paint is drying, cut your tissue paper into squares. The squares do not have to be perfect and can be different sizes.  Make sure that you have enough squares to cover and overlap on all of the bottles.

"Paint" the entire bottle with Mod Podge. Stick the pieces of tissue onto the Mod Podge.  You can overlap pieces of tissue. Try to flatten them onto the bottle as much as possible. Cover the entire bottle with tissue paper squares.

Once the bottle is covered with tissue paper, you will paint over top of the tissue with another layer of Mod Podge. Cover the entire bottle.  This will help flatten the tissue paper and make it stick to the bottle. Let the Mod Podge dry.  I did Mod Podge, tissue, Mod Podge on one bottle and then moved onto the next bottle.  I used the glossy Mod Podge so that it gave a shiny finish after it dried. 

Arrange the bottles onto a tray for a fancy decoration!

Add flowers...whatever you please! Be creative! Have fun!

What is your favorite kind of wine?

Any other craft ideas for bottles OR wine corks?

Want to try a Fall wine bottle craft? Check out my Candy Corn Wine Bottles:

http://caralyoung.blogspot.com/2013/10/candy-corn-wine-bottle-craft.html